On last Saturday’s (12/27/08) Battle Lines broadcast we asked the question, “Does God hear the prayers of everyone?" According to Barna, 89% of all adults believe “there is a God who watches over you and answers your prayers.” Muslims, Jews, Christians, and even atheists and the nonreligious, pray… but does God hear their prayers? God, being omniscient, hears, but He may nor may not respond in the same way to everyone’s prayer. God is a God who answers prayer, but we cannot approach Him on our own terms; we must come to Him on His terms, through Jesus Christ. We identified three groups of people who cannot presume that God will respond to their prayers. First, the unbelieving. The only prayer to which an unbelieving person can count on God to respond is a prayer of faith in Christ. Second, a believer living in willful sin (James 5:16, I Peter 3:7). The only prayer to which a sinning believer can count on God to respond is a prayer of repentance. And third, a believer praying for something that is not God’s will (Jeremiah 7:16). God only answers prayer in the affirmative according to His will. Our culture is pluralistic… people think there are many truths about God. And our culture is inclusive… everybody has access to God, on any terms. But we believe that there is one God, that He has revealed Himself in the one God-man, and that He has granted us one way to access Him, through faith in Christ. It may seem narrow, but only those who come to God on His terms have any confidence that He will respond.